Roots Community Food Centre A place where food opens up new possibilities When Chiara joined Roots Community Food Centre’s Cooking for Cred program, she was at a personal crossroads. She had a well-established love for food but wasn’t sure if it was possible to turn that passion into a career. Cooking for Cred is a six-week culinary exploration program for 18-30 year olds. Participants have opportunities to cook with local chefs, caterers, and bakers, and become certified in safe food handling. There’s also the benefit of earning high school credit, for those who need it. But for Chiara, the program was about much more. She built confidence in her skills and made connections in a local food industry that seemed out of reach. And the program’s accessible approach meant she didn’t feel the pressures of a typical school or training course. It was about meeting new people, being curious to share and learn new skills, and feeling at home in a community space. As Chiara explains: “Every day opened my mind to new lessons, recipes, and inspiration for food and personal growth – letting go of my fear of making mistakes or not doing a task perfectly.” Now, Chiara apprentices with one of the partner chefs she worked alongside at Cooking for Cred. She’s part of a team creating and sharing good food every day. A community centre built around food Located in Thunder Bay, Roots Community Food Centre is the first of its kind in Northern Ontario and the fifth in the province. Whether it’s cooking, gardening, or shopping at the community market, every program at Roots CFC is about making people feel welcome and supporting them to learn and share skills. Skills that can open up new opportunities in people’s lives. Through their Seasonal Horticultural Outdoor Worker (SHOW) program, Roots CFC engages young adults in meaningful, paid work at their urban farm facilities. Participants learn how to care for, transplant, and harvest different crops. And they also build skills in sales and marketing by selling produce to restaurants and at local markets. Newcomer women looking for ways to earn an income through cooking can join Roots’ Culture Kitchen program. For six weeks, participants cook in the Community Food Centre’s kitchen to earn their safe food handling certification and hone their commercial cooking and catering skills. Then, they prepare a weekly community meal for six weeks, gaining real-world experience. Deep roots and an innovative partnership Formerly known as Roots to Harvest, the organization was established in 2012 in order to provide opportunities for youth in Thunder Bay to engage meaningfully in the food system. Since then, the organization has expanded to offer dignified food programs to the broader community, including seniors, Elders, and newcomers to Canada. As an urban community in the northwestern part of the province, the city of Thunder Bay faces unique challenges – from precarious employment and limited access to public transit to high housing and food costs. According to StatCan data, 14.3 per cent of households in Thunder Bay are food insecure. In becoming a Community Food Centre, Roots has established a vibrant, welcoming, accessible space that includes a large community kitchen, a dining hall to host community meals, and a fully equipped outdoor kitchen. “We’ve admired the Community Food Centre model for a long time and we’ve worked hard to get to a place to be able to take this on in Thunder Bay,” shares Erin Beagle, Executive Director of Roots CFC. “For us, a national network that believes in the power of food, dignified food access and always making more room at the table is the kind of movement we want to bring to Northern Ontario.”